Republicans Lack Desire, Drive, Diversity

COLUMN

May 16, 2014|Colin McEnroe, To Wit

Everything you need to know about what's wrong with the Republican Party in Connecticut can be summed up in the following true statement: They had their state nominating convention this weekend at the Mohegan Sun.

A casino is not a good place to get your act together or to summon a new sense of purpose or to launch a comeback. A casino is a good place to go if you want lots of distractions when you get bored doing whatever you went there to do.

Earlier this week, former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker wrote a piece for The Courant tying the state Republicans' failure to win elections to an extreme conservative shift. I think the Connecticut Republican problem is simpler than he makes it sound. I think they just don't care that much. They're torpid and lazy. They have no thirst for battle, no instinct for the jugular.

In an old episode of "The Simpsons," Bart opens a "Where's Waldo?" book to a page that shows Waldo standing nearly alone on a beach. "He's not even trying anymore," Bart says wistfully. That's the Connecticut Republicans.

Consider the following.

The Republicans have two key races they could win this year: governor and 5th Congressional District. The results of Linda McMahon's 2010 and 2012 Senate runs and Tom Foley's 2010 gubernatorial campaign strongly suggest that wealthy candidates who have no record of public office-holding do not fare well. So they are nominating Foley again and, in the 5th, Mark Greenberg, a wealthy candidate with no record of public office-holding.

One of the other recent lessons has to do with changing demographics. In 2008, I attended John McCain's one big Connecticut rally and watched as he was surrounded onstage by smiling, waving, white men. Finally Nancy Johnson joined them as a sop to diversity.

Six years later, here is their probable field: Five white men running for the five congressional seats. White men running for governor, attorney general, treasurer and secretary of state. The Republicans are so white, they even found a white candidate named James Brown. The lone exceptions could be lieutenant governor (two credible white women seeking the nomination) and comptroller, where Angel Cadena Jr. has emerged as a candidate after the party chair admitted a month ago, that there was nobody planning to run.

Angel Cadena is my favorite candidate; and, even though I am not going to vote for him, I would strongly consider dating him. On his eharmony-like website, he coyly describes himself as "a bit over three decades of age, slightly overweight." He has "excelled in over 50 distinct jobs in various industries," which is almost six jobs for every year of his life. This column has not yet confirmed reports that he likes long walks on the beach.

The Republican registration disadvantage, which couldn't get any worse, has, over the last 10 years, somehow gotten worse. Statewide, it looks like this: 917,000 unaffiliated, 800,000 Democrats, 436,000 Republicans. When your numbers are that bad, you have to run Braveheart-style: waving your sword and screaming as you charge the hill.

Instead, the Republicans have shown a preference for the hammock and the tall, cool lemonade. In recent weeks, their main opponent, Gov. Dannel Malloy, saw his entire tax-and-revenue plan collapse into smoldering ruins. He canceled a tax rebate. He sheepishly admitted the surplus had gone poof.

This is what's called an opening. This is when you call a press conference, paint your face blue and shout, "And dying in your beds, would you be willing to trade all the days for just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take ... OUR FISCAL PROJECTIONS!"

But nobody did that. In fact, when things go wrong for Malloy he can always count on getting smacked around by two sources. House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, who is retiring to launch his own line of pocket handkerchiefs, and Goodluck Jonathan Pelto, a possible third party wild card. His actual Republican opponents have too much reserve and aplomb to, you know, noisily stake out a position.

The Republicans don't need a chairman. They need a drill instructor. Like the one Louis Gossett Jr. played in "Officer and a Gentleman." His name was Foley.

Colin McEnroe appears from 1 to 2 p.m. weekdays on WNPR-FM (90.5) and blogs at http://courantblogs.com/colin-mcenroe/. He can be reached at Colin@wnpr.org.